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Measuring Poverty: The Case for a Sociological Approach

In: The Many Dimensions of Poverty

Author

Listed:
  • David B. Grusky
  • Kim A. Weeden

Abstract

We could not fault our readers for approaching yet another treatise on the proper way to measure poverty with a healthy degree of scepticism and more than a little irritation. Haven’t academics been debating issues of measurement endlessly? Isn’t it high time to stop debating and get on with the tasks of measuring poverty, developing policy, and taking action? We too would have hoped that by now a framework for measuring poverty and inequality would be as well developed as our sprawling and influential social indicator system for measuring total economic output. The unfortunate fact of the matter, however, is that a comprehensive and consensual framework is not in place, and such tools as now exist are not fully adequate to the task of representing the structure of poverty. The purpose of this chapter is to expose some of the assumptions about poverty measurement with which the disciplines of sociology and economics have been burdened, to show that these assumptions have not always served scholars in these disciplines well, and to develop a framework for poverty measurement that provides a more rigorously empirical foundation for measurement.

Suggested Citation

  • David B. Grusky & Kim A. Weeden, 2013. "Measuring Poverty: The Case for a Sociological Approach," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Nanak Kakwani & Jacques Silber (ed.), The Many Dimensions of Poverty, chapter 2, pages 20-35, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-59240-7_2
    DOI: 10.1057/9780230592407_2
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    Cited by:

    1. Wietzke, Frank-Borge, 2024. "Perceptions of social class in Africa. Results from a conjoint experiment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    2. Gert Thielemans & Dimitri Mortelmans, 2022. "Poverty Risks after Relationship Dissolution and the Role of Children: A Contemporary Longitudinal Analysis of Seven OECD Countries," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-18, March.

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